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Spotlight on: Immigrant Health Research

Immigrant and refugee children’s healthcare needs are often similar to those of other US children, but access to care is often more challenging. Developing evidence-based programs to make sure that these children have access to healthcare is what drives immigrant health research at CPCE.

Led by Katherine Yun, MD, MHS, a core faculty member at CPCE and PolicyLab, assistant professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania, and attending physician in the Refugee Health Program at CHOP, this line of research focuses on  strengthening refugee health services and other programs to help parents learn to navigate the US child health system.

Recently, Dr. Yun wrote about a White House executive order restricting immigration for the Philly.com Healthy Kids blog.
Upcoming Events

CHOP Research Poster Day and Expo
Date: February 22, 2017
Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Location: Lobby and first floor of the Colket Translational Research Building
This year marks the 27th anniversary of CHOP Research Poster Day, an annual celebration of groundbreaking research happening throughout Children's Hospital. Abstracts and additional details are available here.

Volunteer with the Division of Adolescent Medicine and Students Run Philly Style
The CHOP Division of Adolescent Medicine is conducting a pilot study to evaluate the combined impact of a running training program and adult mentorship on youth risk and youth resilience from toxic stress, in collaboration with Students Run Philly Style. The study team is seeking volunteers to visit practices at area high schools for five weeks to recruit, screen, consent and enroll 300 youth. The visits will occur on the following schedule: 

Weeks: March 13 - 17, March 20-24, March 27-31, April 3-7 and April 18-21
Days: M, T, W, F 
Hours: 2 pm-5:30 pm

Contact  Adolescent Medicine Fellow Chris Renjilian if interested.

ITMAT Junior Investigators Symposium
Date: March 21, 2017
Time: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Location: Smilow Center for Translational Research, 3400 Civic Center Blvd.
The Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT) and the CHOP Research Institute are pleased to again co-host a one-day symposium for senior physician-fellows, post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty focused on successful strategies for a career in clinical and translational science. The agenda for the day and registration information can be found here. A novel feature of this year’s program will include a ‘ Speed Mentoring’ session during which you will have the opportunity to spend time one-on-one with seasoned faculty members. The list of faculty who have committed to participate as speed mentors can be found here. 
The number of speed mentoring slots is limited. Attendees should indicate their interest in participating as a mentee in this activity at the time of registration. Contact Anna Greene with questions.

CPCE in
the News!
Recent Publications

Effectiveness of Fundoplication or Gastrojejunal Feeding in Children With Neurologic Impairment Gastroesophageal reflux (GER), aspiration, and secondary complications lead to morbidity and mortality in children with neurologic impairment (NI), dysphagia, and gastrostomy feeding. Fundoplication and gastrojejunal (GJ) feeding can reduce risk. This research compared GJ to fundoplication using first-year postprocedure reflux-related hospitalization (RRH) rates.

Although child maltreatment medical research has benefited from several multi-center studies, the new specialty of child abuse pediatrics has not had a sustainable network capable of pursuing multiple, prospective, clinically-oriented studies. The Child Abuse Pediatrics Network (CAPNET) is a new multi-center research network dedicated to child maltreatment medical research. 

Antibiotic treatment alters the composition and metabolic function of the intestinal microbiota. These alterations may contribute to the pathogenesis of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD). Recent studies are beginning to unravel the contribution of specific groups of microbes and their metabolic pathways to these diseases. Probiotics or other microbiota-targeted therapies may provide effect strategies to prevent and treat NEC and AAD.

Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) effectively optimize antibiotic use for inpatients; however, the extent of emergency department (ED) involvement in ASPs has not been described. Dr. Gerber and colleagues aim to determine current ED involvement in children's hospital ASPs and to assess beliefs and preferred methods of implementation for ED-based ASPs.

Variation in Sepsis Evaluation Across a National Network of Nurseries
The extent to which clinicians use currently available guidelines for early-onset sepsis (EOS) screening has not been described. The Better Outcomes through Research for Newborns network represents 97 nurseries in 34 states across the United States. The objective of this study was to describe EOS risk management strategies across a national sample of newborn nurseries.

Most very-low birth weight (birth weight <1500 grams, VLBW) infants receive empiric antibiotics for risk of early-onset sepsis (EOS). The objective of this study was to determine the characteristics of VLBW infants with culture-confirmed EOS at a single center during 25 years, to identify opportunities for antibiotic stewardship.

See more...

Funding Opportunities

When Everyone Survives Foundation 2017 RFP in Leukemia Research (due March 1)
This request for proposals is offered by the When Everyone Survives Foundation to solicit innovative research in leukemia. Grants of $50,000 for one year are offered to new and established investigators who are requesting support for laboratory, translational, or clinical research related to acute leukemia.

The Clinical Scholars program aims to provide health care providers with the opportunity to build and develop the unique skills they need to lead communities and organizations toward a Culture of Health. The total award to the grantee organization will be up to $105,000 per team member for a three-year fellowship program. Teams may be between two and five individuals. 

Thrasher Research Fund Early Career Awards (concept due March 14)
The Fund is open to a variety of research topics important to children's health. Both incidence and severity are considered when determining the significance of a problem being studied. In the Early Career Award Program, the Fund is particularly interested in applicants that show great potential to impact that field of children's health through medical research. Both an applicant's aptitude and inclination toward research are considered. The quality of the mentor and the mentoring relationship are also considered to be important predictors of success. The grant amount is based on the actual budgetary needs of the project, with a maximum of $25,000 in direct costs for the entire grant. The duration of the project can be up to two years.

The Damon Runyon Fellowship Award is designed to provide early-career scientists with resources to hone their cancer research skills and explore their own ideas while working with mentors in top universities and cancer research centers. Candidates must apply for the fellowship under the guidance of a sponsor. The award provides a stipend of $223,000 over four years.

Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (due March 15)
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program offers four-year postdoctoral research awards to increase the number of physicians, dentists, and nurses from historically disadvantaged backgrounds who are committed to: developing careers and achieving senior rank in academic medicine, dentistry, or nursing; fostering the development of succeeding classes of physicians, dentists, and nurses from historically disadvantaged backgrounds; improving the health of underserved populations; and/or working toward understanding and eliminating health disparities by achieving senior rank in academic medicine, dentistry, or nursing. RWJF will fund up to 10 four-year awards of up to $420,000 each in this grant cycle. Additional awards are available through partnerships with the American Society of Hematology, American Society of Nephrology, and the American Heart Association.

Organization for Autism Research 2017 Applied Research Competition (pre-proposals due March 27)
The annual program aims to promote innovative research that directly supports the autism community by expanding the body of knowledge related to autism intervention and treatment, producing practical and objective results, and providing outcomes that enhance the quality of life for persons with autism and their families. In 2017, OAR will award grants of up to $30,000. Studies can range from one to two years. Pre-proposals must be received no later than March 27, 2017. Upon review, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal by August 7, 2017.

CHEST Foundation Research Grant in Asthma (due March 31)
The CHEST Foundation, the charitable arm of the American College of Chest Physicians, will award a single grant of $30,000 to a research project that addresses a clinical, population, or community engagement/health services aspect of asthma with relevance to the understanding of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, management, and/or treatment of the condition. Applicants must be a licensed physician and CHEST member in good standing at the time of application. Physicians-in-training (residents or fellows), other healthcare professionals, and clinical researchers with relevant experience also will be considered. Although applicants may be in the later stages of their career, special consideration will be given to early-career investigators and applicants.

Grants of up to $20,000 are available to help support the research of faculty members or post-doctoral researchers affiliated with non-profit human service organizations in the United States and Canada. Areas of interest to the Fund are: studies to develop, refine, evaluate, or disseminate innovative interventions designed to prevent or ameliorate major social, psychological, behavioral or public health problems affecting children, adults, couples, families, or communities, or studies that have the potential for adding significantly to knowledge about such problems.

The mission of the Gerber Foundation is to enhance the nutrition, care, and development of infants and young children. To that end, the foundation is accepting concept papers for health and/or nutrition-related research projects with potential to have a significant impact on issues affecting infants and young children from birth to three years of age. The total requested grant size should be no more than $350,000. Concept papers must be received no later than June 1, 2017. Upon review, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposals by August 15, 2017.

Children's Leukemia Research Association (due June 30)
CLRA was founded in 1965 to support research efforts aimed at finding the causes of and a cure for leukemia. To that end, CLRA is seeking applications from investigators for promising research on childhood leukemia. Grants of up to $30,000 will be awarded for the most promising projects with the shared goal of isolating the causes of and finding a cure for childhood leukemia. Any doctor at the Ph.D. or M.D. level involved in research on the causes of and a cure for leukemia may apply.

OnPAR Program for Unfunded NIH Proposals
Last year, the NIH received approximately $30 billion in federal support. In spite of this amount, about 42,500 grants were not funded. To address these unfunded proposals, the NIH has a new Pilot Program that is designed to match researchers with nonprofit disease Foundations or with investments from private companies. Through a new collaboration between the NIH and the private contractor Leidos, researchers can now upload their unfunded NIH Proposals into an online portal at the Online Partnership to Accelerate Research (OnPAR). Foundations and other potential funders can review the NIH scores, and decide whether they might be interested in funding the Projects. Currently, this Pilot Program allows researchers with priority scores better than the 30th percentile to submit their abstracts. Interested Foundations might ask that a researcher send their full NIH Application along with its scores. The consensus opinion is that there are a lot of worthy grants being submitted to the NIH, but there is only so much funding available. OnPAR is one way of trying to match researchers with private Foundations. 
About CPCE
We are a pediatric research center dedicated to discovering and sharing knowledge about best practices in pediatric care by facilitating, organizing and centralizing the performance of clinical effectiveness research -- research aimed at understanding the best ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases in children. CPCE’s multidisciplinary team conducts research on a diverse range of clinical effectiveness topics grouped within four areas of research: